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Latest snow forecast Updated: 12.15pm Thursday 18 December 2014 As we mentioned in our “Today in the Alps” daily snow report this morning, it’s Season progress report been a case of one step forward, one step back this week. Who got the most snow 201415? Yesterday afternoon social media was awash with pictures of heavy snow falling across the northern and western Alps. Today (alas) freezing levels have Who got the most snow rocketed and it is raining to 2500m in places! 201415 N America It is important to stress two points right now... Firstly that there is, of course, The snow quality plenty of decent skiing to be found if you know where to look. This is mostly at equation high altitude and towards (but by no means exclusively) on the southern side of the Alps. Secondly though, and this is where some sections of the industry What is the Foehn? seem to still be in denial, many lower (and a few higher) resorts are in dire trouble. Avoiding rain At the time of writing (Thursday lunchtime) only a tiny handful (perhaps three Avalanche awareness or four) of the dozens of resorts in the Haute Savoie region of France have any prospect of opening this weekend (the start of the busy Christmas week) with Who got the most snow little sign of any relief in the medium term forecasts. Among the big name 201314? resorts that remain closed are Morzine/Les Gets and Flaine.

Who got the most snow Across the pond, conditions are more consistent with great skiing in many 201314 N. America western US and Canadian resorts... Who got the most snow 201213? Austria Who got the most snow There is a little fresh snow in Austria, mostly in the north and west, though 201213 N. America freezing levels have now risen again which means rain at lower altitudes. The best snow conditions remain at altitude and in resorts with glaciers such as The winter of 201213 in Hintertux (15/195cm) and Sölden (0/190cm), where 112km of pistes are open. pictures

Archive Of the nonglacial options Ischgl (0/40cm)and Obergurgl (8/92cm) remain by far the best bets though more snow would still be welcome. Further west, the 201516 Arlberg region remains in poor shape with just a tiny fraction of both the St Anton (5/30cm) and Lech (10/25cm) ski areas currently open. 201415 Not surprisingly it’s also bad news for the large number of low Austrian villages, 201314 but there is some limited skiing here and there, such as in Westendorf (5/20cm) and Alpbach (0/25cm) to give you a couple of examples. 201213

Still waiting for winter in the lower Austrian resorts. This is Kitzbühel Photo: kitz.net

France Wednesday saw moderate snowfalls in many resorts, though any benefit at lower altitudes will be quickly eroded by the massive rise in temperature today (Thursday).

weathertoski The best place to be right now is Val Thorens (50cm upper base) where around 90% of its ski area is open and there is plenty of snow, even at resort level. Elsewhere in the 3 Valleys snow cover is sketchier, particularly lower down, but weathertoski there are still over 100 runs open in total. @weathertoski Further east, Val d’Isère/Tignes (20/60cm) are now linked with 45 of 155 runs Skiing in June? Yep, there are available and some decent skiing at altitude. plenty of good options in the Alps! tinyurl.com/llt6xzy Good skiing is also possible in the southern Alps, but again only high up. Serre Chevalier has a 100cm upper base and around half of its 56 lifts open.

Further south still, Isola 2000 (40/120cm) has 105km of its 120km of runs operational and good cover all the way down to its 2000m base.

Lower down, however it’s not good news, particularly in the Haute Savoie region where only a handful of resorts will be open this weekend and even then on a very limited basis. Avoriaz (30/60cm) and Chamonix (n/a) are two resorts that 31 May will offer some very limited skiing, but many resorts simply don’t have enough snow to open including the rest of the Portes du Soleil (Morzine, Les Gets, Châtel etc.) and, amazingly, Flaine (which is normally fairly snowsure). weathertoski @weathertoski Where to ski in the Alps in

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After yesterday's snowfall it is much milder with light rain in Méribel Photo: meribel.net

Italy

In general, Italian resorts saw less snow from yesterday’s storm though some did creep over the border to affect places like La Thuile (10/30cm) and Courmayeur (0/30cm). Like everywhere else in the Alps, it has turned milder again with the best conditions at high altitude.

Cervinia (25/180cm) continues to lead the way with (weather permitting) over 200km of pistes now open if you include the link to Zermatt. Other decent bets are Champoluc (5/85cm), Livigno (26/127cm), Passo Tonale (40/350cm) and Selva (0/40cm) where 40 lifts are open despite the modest cover.

Generally speaking though, much more snow is needed in the lower resorts. weatherto… 2.9k likes

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Got a burning question about weather or snow conditions in the Alps? Contact us and we'll do our best Decent skiing at altitude in the Milky Way area. This is Claviere (not yet open) near Sestriere to answer it... Photo: vialattea.it

E: [email protected] Switzerland

T: +44 (0)20 3151 3154 Most Swiss resorts saw snow yesterday up to 30cm in places though milder air and some rain today (Thursday) has spoilt the party somewhat.

The best skiing remains at altitude and in the south, especially in Zermatt (5/180cm), SaasFee (10/210cm) and St Moritz (10/95cm).

Further north openings are (on the whole) more limited. Davos/Klosters (5/69cm) have a respectable 34 lifts open, but Verbier (5/50cm) and Wengen (0/25cm) are a long way from being fully operational and more snow is needed, especially lower down.

Reasonable snow cover in the St Moritz area Photo: engadin.stmoritz.ch

Rest of Europe

Elsewhere in Europe, Norway seems to be the place with Hemsedal (64/75cm) offering great conditions top bottom. Sweden’s premier resort Åre is still struggling with just 10/20cm of settled snow, depending on altitude.

The Pyrenees have had a reasonable if unspectacular start to the season though, like in the Alps, milder air and some rain have put a dampener on things today. Soldeu (Andorra) currently has 30/70cm of snow depending on altitude.

The Bulgarian season is underway, though they could do with more snow lower down in Bansko (0/60cm) where about half the lifts are running.

Scotland is also offering some limited skiing in Glenshee, Cairngorm and the Lecht, all of which have between 10 and 50cm of packed snow on their runs.

Milder weather with some rain taking its toll at lower elevations in the Pyrenees too. This is Barèges Photo: grandtourmalet.com

USA

Light snow showers are continuing across much of Colorado and follow a more substantial dump last weekend. All in all then conditions are pretty good for the time of year, with 84cm of settled snow at altitude in Winter Park and 104cm in Aspen.

Utah is also offering good skiing with 91cm midmountain at Snowbird, though much of the offpiste is tracked out.

One of the best starts to the season, at least in bigname resorts, has been in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (126cm upper base) where most runs are open, there is a little fresh snow and plenty more on the forecast.

Over in California, Mammoth has also seen new snow 30cm in the last 48 hours and now boasts base depths of 76/107cm depending on altitude.

Canada

Conditions in Whistler have been steadily improving with plenty of fresh snow and upper mountain base depths now approaching 1m.

Further inland, the Banff/Lake Louise area is also in decent shape for the time of year (despite no recent snow) with practically all lifts open and 80/88cm of settled snow depending on altitude.

Plenty of early season snow up top in Fernie Photo: skifernie.com

Next full snow report will be on Monday 22 December 2014, but see Today in the Alps for daily updates